⁴⁷ Since you would not serve the Lord, your God, with heartfelt joy for abundance of every kind, ⁴⁸ in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and utter want, you will serve the enemies whom the Lord will send against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck, until he destroys you.^(A)

Invasion and Siege. ^49 (B)The Lord will raise up against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, that swoops down like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce appearance, that shows neither respect for the aged nor mercy for the young. ⁵¹ They will consume the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil, until you are destroyed; they will leave you no grain or wine or oil, no issue of herd, no young of flock, until they have brought about your ruin. ⁵² They will besiege you in each of your communities, until the great, fortified walls, in which you trust, come tumbling down all over your land. They will besiege you in every community throughout the land which the Lord, your God, has given you, ^53 (C)and because of the siege and the distress to which your enemy subjects you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord, your God, has given you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and fastidious man among you will begrudge his brother and his beloved wife and his surviving children, ⁵⁵ any share in the flesh of his children that he himself is using for food because nothing else is left him—such the siege and distress to which your enemy will subject you in all your communities. ⁵⁶ The most fastidious woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, so refined and fastidious is she, will begrudge her beloved husband and her son and daughter ⁵⁷ the afterbirth that issues from her womb and the infants she brings forth because she secretly eats them for want of anything else—such the siege and distress to which your enemy will subject you in your communities.

Plagues. ⁵⁸ If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which is written in this book, and to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord, your God,^{(D) 59 (E)}the Lord will bring upon you and your descendants wondrous calamities, severe and constant calamities, and malignant and constant sicknesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt^[a] which you dread, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ Even any sickness or calamity not written in this book of the law, that too the Lord will bring upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² You who were numerous as the stars of the heavens^(F) will be left few in number, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord, your God.

Exile. ^63 (G)Just as the Lord once took delight in making you prosper and grow, so will the Lord now take delight in ruining and destroying you, and you will be plucked out of the land you are now entering to possess. ⁶⁴ The Lord will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve other gods, of wood and stone, which you and your ancestors have not known. ⁶⁵ Among these nations you will find no rest, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot, for there the Lord will give you an anguished heart and wearied eyes^[b] and a trembling spirit. ⁶⁶ Your life will hang in suspense and you will stand in dread both day and night, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “Would that it were evening!” and in the evening you will say, “Would that it were morning!” because of the dread that your heart must feel and the sight that your eyes must see. ⁶⁸ The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt, by a route which I told you that you would never see again;^(H) and there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.

⁶⁹ These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he made with them at Horeb.

III. Third Address

Chapter 29

Past Favors Recalled. ¹ Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and to all his land, ² the great testings your own eyes have seen, and those great signs and wonders.^{(I) 3} But the Lord has not given you a heart to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear until this day.^{(J) 4 (K)}I led you for forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes did not fall from you in tatters nor your sandals from your feet; ⁵ it was not bread that you ate, nor wine or beer that you drank—so that you might know that I, the Lord, am your God. ^6 (L)When you came to this place, Sihon, king of Heshbon, and Og, king of Bashan, came out to engage us in battle, but we defeated them ⁷ and took their land, and gave it as a heritage to the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.^{(M) 8} Observe carefully the words of this covenant, therefore, in order that you may succeed in whatever you do.^(N)

All Israel Bound by Covenant. ⁹ You are standing today, all of you, in the presence of the Lord, your God—your tribal heads, elders, and officials, all of the men of Israel, ¹⁰ your children, your wives, and the resident alien who lives in your camp, from those who cut wood to those who draw water for you— ¹¹ to enter into the covenant of the Lord, your God, which the Lord, your God, is making with you today, with its curse, ¹² so that he may establish you today as his people and he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ^13 (O)But it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant, with its curse, ¹⁴ but with those who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord, our God, and with those who are not here with us^[c] today.

Warning Against Idolatry. ¹⁵ You know that we lived in the land of Egypt and that we passed through the nations, that you too passed through ¹⁶ and saw the loathsome things and idols of wood and stone, of gold and silver, that they possess. ¹⁷ There may be among you a man or woman, or a clan or tribe, whose heart is now turning away from the Lord, our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; there may be among you a root bearing poison and wormwood; ¹⁸ if any such persons, after hearing the words of this curse, should congratulate themselves, saying in their hearts, “I am safe, even though I walk in stubbornness of heart,” thereby sweeping away moist and dry alike,^{[d](P) 19} the Lord will never consent to pardon them. Instead, the Lord’s burning wrath will flare up against them; every curse written in this book will pounce on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under the heavens.^{(Q) 20} The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for doom, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law.

Punishment for Idolatry. ^21 (R)Future generations, your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigners who will come here from distant lands, when they see the calamities of this land and the ills the Lord has inflicted upon it— ²² all its soil burned out by sulphur and salt, unsown and unfruitful, without a blade of grass, like the catastrophe of Sodom and Gomorrah,^(S) Admah and Zeboiim,^[e] which the Lord overthrew in his furious wrath— ^23 (T)they and all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord dealt thus with this land? Why this great outburst of wrath?” ²⁴ And they will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he had made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, ²⁵ and they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know and whom he had not apportioned to them.^{(U) 26 (V)}So the anger of the Lord flared up against this land and brought on it every curse written in this book. ²⁷ The Lord uprooted them from their soil in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them out into another land, as they are today.” ²⁸ The hidden things^[f] belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things are for us and for our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.

Psalm 101^[a]

Norm of Life for Rulers

¹ A psalm of David.

I

II

Chapter 28

Winter in Malta. ¹ Once we had reached safety we learned that the island was called Malta. ² The natives showed us extraordinary hospitality; they lit a fire and welcomed all of us because it had begun to rain and was cold. ³ Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire when a viper, escaping from the heat, fastened on his hand. ⁴ When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must certainly be a murderer; though he escaped the sea, Justice^[a] has not let him remain alive.” ⁵ But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶ They were expecting him to swell up or suddenly to fall down dead but, after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.^{(A) 7} In the vicinity of that place were lands belonging to a man named Publius, the chief of the island. He welcomed us and received us cordially as his guests for three days. ⁸ It so happened that the father of Publius was sick with a fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and, after praying, laid his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ After this had taken place, the rest of the sick on the island came to Paul and were cured. ¹⁰ They paid us great honor and when we eventually set sail they brought us the provisions we needed.

Arrival in Rome. ¹¹ Three months later we set sail on a ship that had wintered at the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the Dioscuri^[b] as its figurehead. ¹² We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days, ¹³ and from there we sailed round the coast and arrived at Rhegium. After a day, a south wind came up and in two days we reached Puteoli. ¹⁴ There we found some brothers and were urged to stay with them for seven days. And thus we came to Rome. ¹⁵ The brothers from there heard about us and came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul gave thanks to God and took courage. ¹⁶ When he entered Rome,^[c] Paul was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.

Testimony to Jews in Rome. ^17 [d]Three days later he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered he said to them, “My brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or our ancestral customs, I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem.^{(B) 18} After trying my case the Romans wanted to release me, because they found nothing against me deserving the death penalty.^{(C) 19} But when the Jews objected, I was obliged to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no accusation to make against my own nation.^{(D) 20} This is the reason, then, I have requested to see you and to speak with you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel^[e] that I wear these chains.”^{(E) 21} They answered him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, nor has any of the brothers arrived with a damaging report or rumor about you. ²² But we should like to hear you present your views, for we know that this sect is denounced everywhere.”^(F)

²³ So they arranged a day with him and came to his lodgings in great numbers. From early morning until evening, he expounded his position to them, bearing witness to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and the prophets. ²⁴ Some were convinced by what he had said, while others did not believe. ^25 [f]Without reaching any agreement among themselves they began to leave; then Paul made one final statement. “Well did the holy Spirit speak to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah, saying:

^28 (H)Let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.” [²⁹ ]^[g]

^30 [h]He remained for two full years in his lodgings. He received all who came to him, ³¹ and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.